CSU professor works to ID risk of high altitude disease in cattle

A Colorado State University professor is researching data-based tools to find ways to identify pulmonary hypertension, also known as brisket disease, in cows and their offspring.

Milton Thomas is leading the research to identify the disease affecting cattle at high altitudes. Cattle with brisket disease develop high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, increasing the risk of congestive heart failure. Producers can alleviate the disease by moving the animals to lower altitudes.

Thomas and his team in the university’s Beef Cattle Breeding and Genetics Program are creating a new data-based tool to forecast the likely inheritance of brisket disease. The tool could be used like EPDs by breeders and producers to predict other traits.

"This research puts us right at the cutting edge of science," Thomas told the Coloradoan. "With this work, we are addressing real problems while building basic science."

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